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William Cheung's Traditional Wing Chun

02-17-2004, 07:30 PM

Here is an article about him from a website

William Cheung
1983
Kung Fu Artist of the Year

The word "master" is very often abused when it comes to the martial arts. Seemingly, everywhere you look, another one claiming to command some new style or even some old style pops up before your eyes. Because the charlatans discredit the true adepts who have worked all their lives to share the skill and knowledge in a particular style of martial arts, it is sometimes hard to separate fact from fiction.
William Cheung, the 1983 BLACK BELT Kung Fu Artist of the Year, is a martial artist's martial artist. Cheung is acknowledged as presently being a key figure in wing chun style of kung fu, having been a student of the legendary patriarch Yip Man. Many say Cheung was Yip's favorite student. Cheung spent seven years under Yip's close scrutiny in his quest to become a truly great fighter.
Having also spent time as an instructor under Yip, Cheung was responsible for getting his boyhood friend, Bruce Lee, into kung fu. Lee was often quoted as saying that he was awed by Cheung's ability and he felt that Cheung's fighting skills were unparall eled. Lee allegedly aspired to reach Cheung's level of skill as a fighter and used Cheung as the model by which he judged himself and others.
Cheung's skill as an instructor has not only been proven by Lee's success but more recently by the victories of some of his other students. For example, at the 1982 World Kung Fu Championships, two of Cheung's students came out on top in their respective weight divisions.
Cheung grew up and spent a great deal of his time on the streets involved in challenge matches. Confrontations helped develop Cheung's reputation as a fierce competitor and as a spectacular fighter. Legend holds that he had his first match at the age of 12 against a full-grown tai chi chuan expert. Cheung's single punch (which put the man out) started him on the way to fame.
Two years later he met and moved in with Yip Man. Because of the special relationship that grew between the two, Cheung idolized Yip and tried to emulate every move that his teacher made. Since Yip felt that Cheung had a special quality, he took the youth under his wing and gave him special guidance and instruction.
During these early days, he established what is probably the wing chun record for the most consecutive chi sao (sticky-hands) matches without a loss; he defeated 32 opponents in less than an hour and a half. In a more subdued vein, he helped persuade Yip to reveal a now-famous wing chun training aidthe wooden dummy. It is generally believed that the first wooden dummy was built by Cheung and his two brothers in a Hong Kong basement.
After he left Yip Man, Cheung returned to his home to live with his parents. When he was 18, his family sent him to school in Australia. He introduced wing chun to Australia and still lives and teaches there today. He also gives demonstrations all over the world.
At a moment's notice, Cheung can summon examples and comparisons which not only illustrate the beauty of his art but also its practicality for sport or even self-defense. He draws on his wealth of knowledge both in wing chun kung fu and in the other martial arts to demonstrate that the wisest move isn't always the flashiest, that the easy-looking technique may be the hardest, and that the best weapon a martial artist may have is his versatility

On November 22, 1998, Grandmaster William Cheung was inducted into the 1998 Blitz Hall of Fame, receiving the award for "Lifetime Tribute for Martial Arts".

He has been called the Masters' Master; he was considered by Bruce Lee to be the "ultimate fighter": William Cheuk Hing Cheung was the sole inheritor of the Traditional Wing Chun Kung Fu system, and was the person responsible for introducing Bruce Lee to Wing Chun Kung Fu.

In 1951, at the age of ten, Cheung started his training in Wing Chun Kung Fu under the late Grandmaster Yip Man. From 1954 to 1958 Cheung was a live-in student of Grandmaster Yip Man. It was during this time that he inherited the complete system of Traditional Wing Chun Kung Fu.

Between 1957 and 1958 Cheung won the Kung Fu elimination contests in Hong Kong, defeating opponents with many more years' experience. In early 1954 Cheung introduced Bruce Lee to Grandmaster Yip Man, and became his personal trainer. Throughout the four and a half years the two men developed a very close friendship, and Cheung passed on to Bruce Lee most of his techniques and helped developed his overall confidence and experience in fights. In later years he was to use these techniques in competitions, and also in his movies.

In 1959, after completing his training under Grandmaster Yip Man, Cheung left Hong Kong to pursue an academic career at the Australian National University in Canberra. He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Economics.

After moving to Melbourne to teach Wing Chun professionally in 1973, Cheung began operating a very successful Martial Arts School. In 1976 he was elected the President of the Australian Kung Fu Federation.

Cheung was appointed as Chief Instructor to the U.S. Seventh Fleet based in Yukosuka, Japan, during 1978 to 1980. Throughout this time, he was in charge of the intensive mental and physical development program of close quarter hand to hand combat for the marines.

Many of Cheung's students have achieved international recognition for their martial arts prowess. In 1982 his students, Joe Moahengi and Rick Spain, won the heavyweight and middleweight divisions respectively in the World Invitation Kung Fu Championships held in Hong Kong. Furthermore, Cheung himself, in 1983, was inducted into the "Black Belt Hall of Fame" as Kung Fu Artist of the Year and again in 1989, into the "Inside Kung Fu Hall of Fame" as Martial Arts Instructor of the Year.

From 1979 Grandmaster Cheung and many of his juniors conducted special programs for special law enforcing officers and special operation groups in the Armed Services in U.S.A. and other countries, teaching unarmed combat, restraining and disarming assailants and a fire arm retention program.

It was at the Harvard University, Boston, in 1984 that Grandmaster Cheung set the world speed punching record of 8.3 punches per second . To promulgate his ideas and stimulate and enliven the art, Cheung has authored a variety of books for the general public including "Wing Chun Bil Jee", "Wing Chun Butterfly Swords", "Wing Chun Dragon Pole", "Advanced Wing Chun", "How to Develop Chi Power", "Wing Chun Kung Fu" (in French), "A Comparison of Wing Chun and Jeet Kune Do" Volumes I and II. He has also produced a number of videos, including the well-known "The Wing Chun Way", "Tao of Wing Chun" and "PRO-TEKT: A Personal Protection Program".

From his early training in Martial Arts, Grandmaster Cheung has become an expert in Meridian, Pressure Points and Meditation dealing with internal energies. Over the last ten years he has used this knowledge to develop many successful programs treating sports injuries and teaching stress management. As the result of these, Grandmaster Cheung's seminars, workshops and treatments are now much sought after all over the world.

Comment

Responsible for introducing Bruce Lee to Kung Fu........and responsible for Lee's success! And considered by Lee to be the "ultimate fighter". Yeah, right. I never heard Bruce Lee say that, or anything like that.

Won many challnege matches (except of course when Boztepe beat the shit out of him)

Yip Man took him under his wing.....presumably favouring him over his own son!

"It is generally believed" he built the first wooden dummy........ did they call it Willaim? Not by me it isn't.

The funniest thing is that he no longer claims to have been the only student to have been taught "real" Wing Chun. He used to say that all the time. What happened? Did he get sued for lying?

The guy is a disgrace and epitomises everything bad about traditional martial arts.

Comment

Heh, don't think you knew his website before I posted it. Research your idols before you post bs.

Originally posted by Tiger Claw

somehow it double posted when I edited odd. This is a link to the grandmaster that guy is talking about (you should of given us a link so far I have not seen anything about how hard he can hit with that punch)http://www.cheungswingchun.com

Dude is a fraud really bad at it too. This guy should not be your role model. I hope your school does not worship him.